The Bureau: Xcom declassified

[melmer]

Video detailing the changes the game has gone through, now a 3rd person tactical shooter with perma death

That 2010 version is just so crazy to me, did they actually think they would sell ANY copies of that game. Shooting blobs of oil :/ don't get me wrong, if it was good I would've played it but that game would not have sold.

Looks like they've had to throw away a hell of a lot of stuff, looks like they've actually remade it from scratch three times over. FPS 1950s > FPS 60s > TPS 60s

Last I heard about this game was that is was now an XBLA game? Hopefully it will be a full retail title, of at least have the content of a full retail title

Hopefully we can create female agents

All in all I'm interested, hopefully they can capture some of last years Xcom magic. More tactics the better

[Nappi]

I'm interested to see how this game will turn out.

 

I liked the strange-things-happening-in-the-suburbs setting of the 2010 version more than the military focus of the 2011 version. On the other hand, the gameplay of the first version seemed pretty dull. I'm glad that they found some middle-ground between the two approaches. 

 

 

Last I heard about this game was that is was now an XBLA game? Hopefully it will be a full retail title, of at least have the content of a full retail title

 

Erm.. Where did you hear this? 

 

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified arrives on August 20, 2013 for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. It will retail for $59.99.

Source.

[melmer]

It was a rumour going around last year, back then it seemed plausible as the other rumour was that it was canceled

http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumor-xcom-fps-become-downloadable-third-person-shooter

http://kotaku.com/5947737/the-other-xcom-game-might-now-be-a-third+person-shooter

[melmer]

video preview on polygon

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/13/4320194/third-times-the-charm-hands-on-with-the-bureau-xcom-declassified

[Dewar]

I was interested in this game when it was first announced (not at the expense of a real XCom game of course.) Now I'm super interested. Seems a lot less generic looking now.

[Twig]

To be honest, I have no idea how it could've been considered "generic" even in its first incarnation, except that it was a first-person shooter? Doesn't seem all that different, outside perspective (and more actual gameplay, the type of which they, I am pretty sure!, said was going to exist, anyway). Also, I no longer see evidence of the super rad polygonal ooze portal things? Those were rad. Super rad.

[I_smell]

I did like the mysterious obelysk aliens before, and I think I liked the setting more before, but at least now it's one layer more interesting than just being a shooter. I did like seeing the old abandoned barn and all the vintage American garages and diners.

 

Good god, Polygon doing their previews outside...

[Frenetic Pony]

I did like the mysterious obelysk aliens before, and I think I liked the setting more before, but at least now it's one layer more interesting than just being a shooter. I did like seeing the old abandoned barn and all the vintage American garages and diners.

 

Good god, Polygon doing their previews outside...

 

Definitely sad to see all that cool design go to waste, the aliens were way cooler in the original concept than the generic gray things they've carried over from Enemy Unknown. Heck I'd say the game even looked better in 2010 in some ways, now it looks instagramed to hell and back. I'm actually not interested in it now.

 

If I wanted a tactical Xcom game, I uhhh, I've GOT enemy Unknown on my PC, thanks. I don't want "Enemy Unknown but more actiony!"

[sclpls]

Although I'm skeptical about the Mass Effect style combat, I am looking forward to the setting for this game. I love the artwork for the old Mars Attacks! collectible cards, and also that X-Files episodes that took place back in the 50s or 60s or whatever.

[twmac]

I really wasn't interested in this at all but now that it seems to be a hybrid of Brothers in Arms and Mass Effect 1 combat I am now pretty curious. I really like the colour palette (I am a sucker for that instagram feel in spite of my better judgement) and I also like the echoes of the era that they pulled from. The Cold War and Space Race era is a good one to pick especially as it evokes Day of the Triffids and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (okay so that was 1956). 

 

I am, now, cautiously optimistic.

[sclpls]

The new preview for this game is totally sweet!

 

[Sno]

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..

[JonCole]

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..

 

Why? YOLO

[Dosed]

Ew. But the game does look awesome though. I got in to XCOM:EU in a big, big way so I'm looking forward to this. 

[Argobot]

I read the RPS preview of this game and was really sad to find out that you cannot play as female FBI agents, which ruins my idea of making a Mulder/Scully 1960s era alien fighting duo.

[Dewar]

Really, the Giant Bomb video with the devs implied that they were taking on the racial and sexist issues of the 60s.

[Murdoc]

The trailer is a gamestop trailer that had nothing to do with the publisher or studio. They've made quite a few gems of other games over the years, it's sad and confusing.

 

edit: Or not... the original yolo trailer wasn't posted by the 2K account on youtube, so everyone on shack assumed it was gamestop... guess it wasn't.

 

I'm no marketing professional but when you establish a certain tone for your product and you have sequential live action trailers having us all buy into the narrative, why in gods name would you release a spoof trailer for a different demographic right in the middle of your marketing blitz of sequential trailers?

 

Pro tip: Post it afterwards, if you have to at all.

[Argobot]

Although this game has a lovely emphasis on team racial diversity for a game set in the 60s, what it doesn’t let you do is recruit women into your team, thus proving that you can either be racist or sexist in your fantasy game about 60s aliens, but you can’t eliminate both, because that would probably create some sort of black hole that would swallow the universe. And they have Women Lieutenants With Medals in the cutscenes, even, which makes it even more puzzling that you can’t recruit them. How did they get those medals? Did they make them out of tinfoil? Did they STEAL THEM, the KLEPTO FEMINAZIS?!?! Did they get those medals for Services To Faxing A Memo?!?! Sadly, you won’t get a playthrough of this XCOM where Alec can recruit me into the virtual RPS team as the vengeful Sharpe-esque renegade I am, because ladies aren’t allowed. DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/07/22/hands-on-the-bureau-xcom-declassified/

[feelthedarkness]

look it's just not realistic to have women in the FBI in that era, fighting aliens. 

[Dewar]

Ah, so they tackle it in cutscenes, but not actual gameplay. Interesting choice.

[melmer]

Oh dear, the game is mediocre to balls

http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/995202-the-bureau-xcom-declassified/index.html

Cancel! Before its too late!

[Dewar]

That's a shame, the Giant Bomb vids made it look really cool.

[sclpls]

I'm going into this with the same sort of expectations that I would going into a game like Alpha Protocol.

[melmer]

Polygon feature

http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/19/4614410/xcom-the-bureau-development-2006-2013

JP Lebreton just tweeted about this feature, saying its a great piece of investigative journalism, and how working on the game in 2010/11 was pretty tough going

[I Saw Dasein]

Polygon feature

http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/19/4614410/xcom-the-bureau-development-2006-2013

JP Lebreton just tweeted about this feature, saying its a great piece of investigative journalism, and how working on the game in 2010/11 was pretty tough going

Great article! I love the early vision for the game:

 

 

The elevator pitch was essentially the original X-COM meets The X-Files, set in the 1950s to 1960s. The time period — something close to it, at least — would survive years of revisions. Practically everything else would not.

 

As a government officer, the player had neither the weapons nor the technology to fight the futuristic aliens that were invading Earth. But they did have a handy camera. The core mechanics of the game were researching and running, with a splash of shooting. The player's most important skill was photography.

 

The pitch was, in some ways, strikingly similar to those of the original X-COM games, despite being first-person. The player would select missions from a number of locations on a map. While the general construction of a stage would remain the same each playthrough — the streets and homes of a suburb would be static, for example — certain aspects of the missions would be procedurally generated. So the enemies you encountered, the location of valuable information, the entrances to rooms, the time of day and the mission goal would be a different combination each time, allowing the player to freshly experience the same stage multiple times.

 

The other half of the pitch focused on the X-COM base. After collecting information, the player would return to an appropriately retro 1950s military base. Here, the player would complete research goals and devise strategies for future missions.

 

The art direction was abstract. aliens would be wisps of air, globs of goo or puffs of clouds. the first enemy was the titan, the large obelisk that would later be the iconic centerpiece of the game's marketing materials.

 

I totally want to play that game! Too bad they couldn't make it work.